


Sorry seems to be the hardest word

by writingformadderton



Series: Rocketman-Based on our fantasy [19]
Category: Rocketman - Fandom
Genre: Crying, Fighting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Insults, Jealousy, M/M, Reunions, Smoking, public kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:20:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23576056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingformadderton/pseuds/writingformadderton
Summary: Taron and Richard are at a birthday party of a mate of T. While Taron has some fun dancing with his mate on stage, Richard feels himself being bothered of it, especially when Taron’s mate presses a kiss on his boyfriend’s lips. They get into an intense argument during their drive home and Richard stays in the hotel for a week afterward. Both of them know they overreacted but it’s always hard to admit a mistake and apologize.
Relationships: Taron Egerton/Richard Madden
Series: Rocketman-Based on our fantasy [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1530287
Kudos: 12





	Sorry seems to be the hardest word

Music blares through the tall speakers in the house. Dozens of different smells filled the air. Smoke, alcohol, sweat and various perfume and cologne to name a few. But Richard’s ears block out the music and his eyes are steady on one thing. One person. He is not in the mood at all. His jaw clenching often as his eyes are filled with fire. If anyone else was looking at what he was, they wouldn’t give it a second thought. But Richard was hot and Taron wasn’t making it better. 

Taron was on stage, showing off his amazing vocals. That part wasn’t out of the ordinary. The boy loves to sing. However, a friend of Taron’s whose party they are currently attending was on stage dancing with him. Taron shakes his hips and has his hands all over him playfully. His friend comes closer and Taron lets him, not thinking anything of it. 

It seems like great fun, but Richard is doing anything but smiling. His blood boils and jealousy courses through his veins. He takes a gulp of his drink, still watching. Suddenly, Taron’s friend leans in and presses his lips to Taron’s. Richard glares and growls, standing up and walking through the crowd to get outside. His eyes are trained to the door that seems so far away. His anger about to burst at any second and the fresh air will hopefully calm him down. 

Taron quickly pushes his friend away from him, looking at him in shock. “Are you out of your fucking mind?” He shouts over the music. “You do remember Richard is my boyfriend right?” The friend just shrugs and tries to come closer, but Taron holds him back and walks away. Taron feels slight panic in his body. His tipsy state from the alcohol starting to fade. His eyes scan the crowd, searching. He sees their chairs empty. Shit! Where was Richard?

Richard stands outside and sucks in the cold air. He leans against the wall of the house and searches his pockets for cigarettes and a lighter. Since being with Taron, Richard has cut down on his smoke intake. He’s been doing well with it actually. But right now, he doesn’t care about his progress. His nerves needed to be eased. Finally, he finds what he’s looking for and lights one up. He takes a deep draw and closes his eyes, sorting his thoughts and trying to calm down. Shortly after, the door opens and Taron comes outside and looks around. For a short moment, he hopes that Richard was already outside when it happened. But he smells the bitter smoke and sees Richard against the wall with a cigarette in his fingers and swallows the lump in his throat. He knows Richard cut down and only smoked when something wrecked his nerves. He’s in deep shit. “Rich, I-“ He starts but stops when Richard throws his cigarette on the ground and rams his foot on it. 

He takes out another and lights it, inhaling a blowing out smoke. His fingers are slightly shaking and he doesn’t know if it’s the anger or slight sting on pain. “What Taron?” He spits out harshly. 

Taron leans against the wall next to him and looks at Richard. He’s angry no doubt, but he sees pain in his eyes. “I’m sorry, I should’ve stopped him early on. I pushed him away as soon as I could.” He says quietly. 

Richard laughs contemptuously and takes the last drag of his cigarette before throwing it on the ground. Taron looks down and realizes Rich already smoked two before he came out, that last one being his third. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going home now.” He says and walks towards the car, not looking at his boyfriend. He needed to be away from this place now. 

Taron follows behind him quickly, not wanting to be left behind, and slides in the car. Richard gets in and drives, remaining silent and focusing on only the road. He tries to ignore the picture of Taron kissing his mate in his head. Taron gently rests his hand on Richard’s knee. “Rich, I-“ He starts softly.

Richard flinches under his touch and takes a deep breath. “Please, don’t.” He whispers and Taron takes his hand away as if he burned himself on his boyfriend. 

“I am sorry for his behavior, Rich. It wasn’t my intention to hurt you!” Taron tries again and stares out the window. The evening started so well and turned so quickly to shit. 

Richard lets out a dark laugh, but his fingers grip the steering wheel harder than before. “He’s been flirting with you since we got to the party. Are you blind?” He asks bitterly.

Taron scoffs. “My god, he’s my mate. He’s been flirting since the day we met. That’s just our friendship.” Taron defends and rolls his eyes. Why was Richard so jealous? Did it really look as bad as he was making it seem?

“That doesn’t mean you have to do it too.” He says and feels his anger coming back. 

“Excuse me?” Taron says warningly and turns to him and glares. 

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean.” He raises his voice a little and parks the car, taking his keys out. He thinks back to Taron whispering into his friend’s ear, winking at him and touching his hand. Over and over again. He gets out of the car and Taron follows, slamming the door aggressively. “Would you please stop fucking up my car?” Richard hisses. He doesn’t want to wake the neighbors, it’s already 2am. 

“Are you fucking kidding me right now? What makes you think I would want to flirt with him?” Taron shouts furiously and leans against the car, bending his knee and resting his foot against the door. 

“I don’t know. Why don’t you figure it out yourself?” Richard’s voice gets louder. His consideration for the neighbors quickly thrown out the window. 

“It was him! I didn’t ask him to kiss me for fuck’s sake!” Taron yells and kicks the door on impulse as his anger boils. 

“But dancing while rubbing your hips against him is okay?” Rich yells and walks to the front door. “And stop kicking my car you idiot!”

“I asked you if you wanted to come with me on stage, but you didn’t! I’m sorry that I wanted to have fun!” Taron says sarcastically and walks towards him. 

Richard turns and faces him. “You know I hate being on stage in front of a lot of people! But that doesn’t mean your friend can give you a lap dance!” Rich retorts. 

“Fuck you!” Taron screams in anger. 

“Fuck yourself! Or better yet, ask your friend if he wants to do it.” Rich screams back and is trembling in anger. As much as his blood pressure was rising, he was pained to see his boyfriend reacting this way. Stunned that he couldn’t see how his actions affected Richard. 

Taron stands shocked and looking at him, catching his breath. Suddenly, the front door of the house next to them opens. Their neighbor steps out angrily and yells for them to shut up. Taron turns to him with fire in his eyes. “You and your bloody annoying wife do this on a daily basis! Back the fuck off!” He shouts. 

“Taron!” Richard says warningly and motions towards the door. Taron huffs and goes inside. Richard apologizes and wishes his neighbor a good night, walking inside and shutting the door. “Can you just shut up for once in your life? The last thing I need is the police coming over because of a noise complaint.” 

“You really think I give a shit about that now? I can’t believe you’re making such a big deal because of something I have no control over.” Taron grumbles and kicks off his shoes in the corner.

Richard stands still and frowns. “Is this all a joke to you?” He asks pissed. 

“I never said that!” Taron growls loudly and hangs up his jacket. He starts walking upstairs, unbuttoning his shirt. “The next time you’re dancing with a friend I hope you’ll remember this here.” He spits out harsh. 

Richard shakes his head in disbelief. “Forget it. You’re such a fucking asshole.” The bitterness in his words hit Taron. 

Taron stops and turns around slowly. “What did you just say?” He asks, a hint of warning in his tone. 

“You heard me.” Rich defends and stands his ground. Not regretting what he’s saying in the moment.

Taron glares and continues his way up the stairs a bit faster. He comes back a few seconds later with Richard’s suitcase in his hands and throws it down the stairs. “If I’m such a horrible boyfriend, why don’t you take your shit and leave then?!” He yells and turns around, leaning against the wall. 

Richard picks up his suitcase and walks up the stairs slowly. He stays silent and walks into their shared bedroom, going to their closet and throwing his clothes into his suitcase. Rich hated to leave, but Taron needed to learn his lesson. 

Taron comes upstairs and stands in the doorway, stunned. He glares and goes back downstairs and into the living room. 

Richard walks downstairs with his now full suitcase and takes his keys off the table and phone charger. 

Taron looks over at him, sniffling, with tears streaming down his face. Rich looks at him for a moment, softness in his features. But Taron throws a pack of cigarettes on the table towards Rich. “You forgot your toxic shit asshole!” He yells and goes back upstairs to the bedroom, slamming the door. 

Richard puts the cigarettes in his pocket and leaves the house. He puts his suitcase in the backseat and gets in and drives off to nearest hotel. He books a room for the next 3 weeks and makes his way to his room, putting his bags down as soon as the door shuts behind him. Rich walks out onto the balcony and lights a cigarette. “Fuck.” He sighs and takes a drag, staring out into the dark. His throat is burning and his eyes slowly fill with tears. All he wanted was to be home in Taron’s arms, but not in their current state. 

Taron sits on their bed and stares out the window. He plays back everything that has happened within the last 8 hours. Over and over again. Kissing his friend was dumb and he should’ve stopped the flirting early on. Richard spoke some harsh words that stung Taron’s heart but it hurt even more to watch him go. He thinks back to Richard standing outside of the house part smoking a cigarette with a shaky hand. He smoked 3 damn cigarettes in 5 minutes. That hasn’t even happened on his most nerve wrecking days.

A week later, Richard’s phone buzzes and the assigned ringtone for Taron rings in the air. He stands in the bathroom and his answer machine beings to play. “Hi, it’s Richard’s boyfriend here. Rich is busy at the moment, please leave a message after the tone.” Taron’s voice says. “Taron!” He hears himself in background and Taron laughs. Taron recorded this two weeks after they got together. Since then, it’s been his answer machine and people were used to hearing his giggling boyfriend instead of himself. Taron ends the call and soon after, he gets a message in his voicemail. 

Richard sighs and finishes styling his hair. He walks over to his phone and presses the number to hear the voicemail. He sits on the bed and puts on his shoes, listening.   
“Hey, it’s Taron….I- I hope you are okay. I don’t know where you are at the moment, so I can’t come to you.” Taron sighs and Richard can imagine him sitting there running his fingers through his hair. “…Can we talk about it?” He says but stays silent for a little while before speaking again. “Please come back home, Rich.” The message ended. 

Richard gets both his shoes on and stares at his phone. Would it be that easy, just sitting down and talking about it? He picked up his phone and searched for Taron’s name in his contacts. He texts him. 

Hey, talking sounds good. I won’t have time today. But we’ll see each other tomorrow. - Richard

Okay then. Tomorrow before the meet and greet. - Taron 

Richard sighs. He almost forgot. Dexter set up and meet and greet with Taron and Richard after the huge success of Rocketman and the relationship of Rich and Taron was the topic on everyone’s lips. It felt like the right time for Taron and Rich to answer some fan questions.   
Richard gets up and grabs his hotel keycard and his car keys and his phone, leaving the room and starting his day. Taron’s idea to talk on his mind all day.

The next day, Taron stands in front of the mirror and stares into his own blueish green eyes. He’s very nervous about today. He just hopes they can work it out before the Q&A bit of the meet and greet. Even though they were actors, they wouldn’t be able to act like everything was perfect between them in the moment. He gets there before Richard and wanders around the empty hall. Some of the workers are already setting up chairs and snack tables for the fans. He’s a nervous wreck and it only gets worse once he sees Richard walk in the hall, seeming to be in a rush. 

“Sorry, got stuck in traffic.” He apologizes and looks at him with a sorry look in his eyes. He sees all the workers and nods towards the door. “Wanna talk outside?” He asks gently. 

“Sure.” Taron nods and follows him out as they search for a quiet place. They find a bench underneath a tree a few meters away and decide to sit there. 

Richard sits down and pulls out his cigarettes out of his jacket. He lights one up and takes a drag, looking at Taron. “I’m sorry, I forgot-“ he speaks but Taron interrupts him. 

“It’s okay.” Taron says and watches Rich smoke. He looks good today, a black shirt that kept all the focus on his ocean blue eyes. Taron sorta loves it when Rich smokes, just hates the taste on his lips. “Where did you go?” He asks to try to get the conversation going.

“Oh you know, my best friend always has a room for me so I’m staying with him.” Richard says straight faced, but isn’t being serious. He takes a drag and watches Taron curiously for his reaction. 

His boyfriend swallows and looks down at his hands. “Oh, okay.” Taron states. 

Richard can clearly see it’s bothering him and wonders if T realizes how it felt for him. “I’m kidding. I have a hotel room at the moment.” Rich takes another drag of the cigarette frowning slightly. He throws it on the ground and steps on it. “Might be best to keep our situation out of the paparazzi’s grubby hands.” He says and looks at Taron. 

“You know I wouldn’t tell them a word.” Taron says and tries to read Richard’s expression. 

Richard nods and sits closer to him. He takes out his sunglasses and puts them on, hiding his beautiful eyes. “There goes 3 of em.” He sighs out and rubs his fingers through his hair. 

“What about going for a walk?” Taron asks and Richard silently agrees, standing up. He looks at Taron and hesitates, but grabs his hand, locking their fingers. Taron would’ve loved to say Rich was holding his hand because everything was all good between them, but they weren’t exactly there yet. This was solely to avoid the pap’s annoying questions and future articles about them not holding hands and being distant. They remain silent on their walk. Richard glances at his boyfriend and holds back the smile when he sees what Taron’s wearing. He makes a mental note to ask him about it later. It feels so good to be back together physically, but they needed to work out some things before fully coming together again. 

“If it helps ease your mind, then you should know that I didn’t realize it bothered you so much seeing me dance with him.” Taron admits after a little while.

"It wasn’t just the dancing.” Richard speaks and tries to hold up the neutral expression on his face in case they were caught in candid photos.

“I know.” Taron says slowly. “But you could’ve told me to stop.”

“You think you would’ve understood it then? You would have been mad either way., just earlier on in the night.” Richard slightly affirms and looks both ways before crossing them both across the street. 

“To be honest, I think you overreacted a bit.” Taron states and searches his body for his glasses. 

“And you didn’t? I bet our neighbor shits his pants now every time he sees you.” Rich chuckles out, not being able to keep it hidden. 

Taron laughs lightly and shakes his head. “He pissed me off.” He defends himself. “And you said some stuff that made me mad.”

“I know. It just really pissed me off that you didn’t understand what I meant.” Richard says a little gentle and looks at his boyfriend who’s still searching his pockets. “What are you doing?”

“I’m searching for my sunglasses.” Taron admits and looks at Rich’s face, laughing at his slightly annoyed expression. 

Richard stops and lets go of Taron’s hand. “Here.” He says and slides his sunglasses that are sitting on his head, on the bridge of his nose. He stands still and looks at his feet.

“Thanks.” Taron mumbles and puts his hands in his pockets. He seesaws slightly on his toes and seems to have an internal battle with himself. Why was this so hard for him? “I’m sorry. I messed everything up.” He apologizes softly. 

Richard looks up at him and folds his arms over his chest. He wants to say it back but his pride is thick. He pushes it aside. “I’m sorry too. We should’ve talked it out calmly instead of waiting.”

Taron stares into his deep blue eyes with long eyelashes. “Can we put it in the past Rich? Please?” He begs a little. Richard looks at him silently and Taron already fears getting a no. But he finds himself wrapped in Richard’s arms and their lips connecting. T wraps his arms around him and smiles into the kiss. He missed this so damn much.

“Don’t you ever do it again.” Richard mumbles and leans his forehead against Taron’s. 

“I won’t. I promise.” Taron assures and kisses him again. 

Richard looks at his watch and realizes it’s time for the meet and greet. He takes Taron’s hand and starts walking back, but lets out a laugh. “And I can’t believe you’re wearing the only shirt I left at home.” He teases. 

Taron blushes slightly and Richard takes off his glasses, putting them in his own jacket pocket. He looks into the beautiful eyes of his boyfriend and his heart swells. “Can you come back home Rich? I miss you so much.” Taron asks and Rich can see the sadness in his eyes.

He stops walking and pulls Taron close. “I’m already home when I’m with you, T.” He says proudly and gently cups his face, Taron’s eyes lighting up with joy. He kisses him passionately and smiles to himself.

They sit in the hall on the small stage up on two seats and answer the fans’ questions excitedly. Dexter is there, creating order between the many questions being thrown at the two men. Taron and Rich are sitting close to each other and can’t stop smiling. They get a few questions about working on Rocketman, but more of the questions are towards their relationship. Suddenly, someone asks them to kiss to prove their relationship. Richard laughs and Taron blushes a bit but shrugs. T leans over and presses his lips to his boyfriend. They share a short but sweet kiss and get a huge applause from the fellow audience. They beam the entire time throughout the meet and greet.


End file.
